A new drama on Netflix centered on a Haredi Orthodox family running a business in Antwerp’s famous diamond district arrived on the platform Friday and is drawing comparisons to hits Israeli series “Shtisel.”
“Rough Diamonds,” a joint production of Israel’s Keshett International and Belgium’s De Manssen, follows the Wolfson family as it navigates internal tensions and professional struggles in the wake of a death in the family. The protagonist, who had left the world of Haredi 15 years earlier, returns to Antwerp to witness the death of his relative and helps the family company return to prominence.
Until the last decade, Antwerp was home to over 80% of the world’s annual rough diamond trade, and most of it was dominated by Haredi Orthodox Jews. After welcoming many Jews who left Spain and Portugal in the wake of the Inquisition in the 15th century, the city was home to a large Jewish population for centuries, including many diamond dealers who were barred from working in many other industries Was. Although the community was decimated by the Holocaust, as of 2018 Antwerp was home to at least 20,000 Jews. Many of them are Haredi Orthodox, In recent years, Indian families have controlled three-quarters of Antwerp’s diamond industry.
filmed in Flemish and Yiddish
“Rough Diamonds” was filmed mostly in a mixture of Flemish and Yiddish, with some French and English. Co-creators Rotem Shamir and Yuval Yefet, who are both Israeli and worked together on the Israeli military thriller “Fouda”, told The Times of Israel that they had to use “a lot of consultants and translators” while working on the show. Had to do Six years course.
“We are not from an ultra-Orthodox background, and we are not from a Belgian background… You have to immerse yourself in this world to know about it” Yefet said.
The head of the show, played by Noah Wolfson
Kevin Janssen, a popular non-Jewish TV actor in his native Belgium. Producer Peter Van Huyck told the London Jewish Chronicle that about half of the Wolfson family are played by Jews.
“We want to portray a normal Hasidic family in the most authentic way possible, but of course, this is a family that is in trouble, so it’s not a normal situation that they’re trying to survive,” he said. . “It was not easy to find Jewish actors who knew that specific way of living and so we had a mix of Jewish and local Flemish actors and we had some Jewish coaches.”
Jews in New York City’s Diamond District were given the silver screen spotlight in the 2019 drama “Uncut Gems” starring Adam Sandler.